


Learning

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Desk, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Kissing, Love, Teaching, Tumblr Prompt, almost desk sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 12:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12606792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: Based on a gifset by @doomslock on tumblr: wherein Rose Tyler, a secondary school teacher falls for the eccentric leader of the science department at the same school





	Learning

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe light Mature? Just to be safe? I'm not sure, I usually don't write that high up on the scale
> 
> https://doctor-who-hears-a-horton.tumblr.com/post/166733843061/doomslock-doctor-who-au-school-teachers-rose <\---- GIFSET HERE, ALL CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL CREATOR!!!!! Give them some love! 
> 
> Please enjoy, I had a lot of fun writing it!

Rose had gone into her new job expecting less than nothing. She knew it was just a secondary school, that it was a step up the ladder for her, and she wouldn’t be there forever.  The Superintendent, an older lady by the name of Sarah Jane Smith, had taken Rose under her wing in a way, which made Rose feel a little bit more at ease. 

On the day of her first class, Sarah Jane walked her to her classroom, saying, “You might want to stay in your classroom for lunch, or our science teacher will try to pester every bit of your life out of you.”

Rose arched her brow and tucked her hair behind her ear. “What?”

“He’s quite interested in where you came from,” Sarah Jane smiled, “Which I told him was completely inappropriate, but he won't’ be moved, and I think he might try to come and find you.”

“Perhaps I should vacate the lot,” Rose said, “What, is he a weirdo?”

Sarah Jane shook her head. “No, he’s actually positively delightful, which is precisely why I’m afraid you might like him as well,” she smiled, “We don’t encourage fraternization.”

“No, I suppose not,” Rose replied, trying to sound as professional as possible, though her interest was terribly peaked.  “I’ll try to avoid him, I suppose.”

Sarah Jane laughed. “I can’t punish what I don’t see,” She said, tapping the side of her nose, and Rose wondered how often Sarah Jane played matchmaker.

The day of teaching went off without a hitch, and Rose was quite enjoying the children, as well as the job itself.  It really was what she had spent so long wanting, just to be able to help people.  And in a way, she was doing that here.  The children took an instant liking to her, and she to them, and they really got on swimmingly.  

She did, however, stay in her room for lunch, as Sarah Jane had advised her, and she wondered if she had been planted there when she heard a knock at her classroom door. She put her tupperware container full of salad to the side and went to the door.  Upon opening it, she saw a man in a brown pinstriped suit and absolutely tousled hair standing there before her.  Rose wasn’t sure that he was conventionally attractive, but something about the line of his jaw and the dark, entrancing eyes behind glasses pulled at her in a way she knew she’d never be able to explain.  She blinked. He was gorgeous, the longer she looked at him. 

Instead of blurting out any of that though, and dreadfully embarrassing herself, she said, “Hello.  Do you need something?”

“No, I just came by to introduce myself, maybe share lunch, if you’d like,” he said, smiling at her.

“You can certainly come in and share lunch,” Rose said, opening the door wider and noticing the bag he was carrying for the first time. Just a plain brown bag lunch, which she found absolutely charming. He grinned at her and walked further into the room.  She shut the door behind them, not knowing if it was allowed but also knowing that Sarah Jane wouldn’t really mind it at all.

“You haven’t told me your name,” Rose said, as though reminding him.

He looked at her. “Oh, yes.  John Smith, head of the science department.”

He stuck his hand out for her to shake and she had to fight back a laugh. So this was the man that Sarah Jane said had had an interest in her. She shook his hand and nodded to him, remaining dreadfully polite.  She gestured to the extra desk chair she had in the corner of the room, indicating he should sit.

“I’m Rose,” She said, “Rose Tyler.”

“Oh, I know, I was a part of your hiring process.”

‘What?”  
‘We did tours of all the different universities, looked at the teaching students, participated in sit-ins in lectures,” he beamed, “You, when you graduated, were the most brilliant and _alive_ teacher I’ve ever seen.”

‘You have to be alive to teach,” Rose said teasingly, sitting down in her own desk chair on her side of the desk.   John pulled his chair to the other side of her desk and sat across from her. 

He grunted. “Not always,” he told her, “There are some teachers here that I swear have been dead for years. People just don’t know when to retire, and some just don’t realize that this is the absolutely wrong profession for them to take part in,” he gestured with his hand. “It’s about the kids.”

“And you chose science.”

“I’m a doctor in biology, so I should certainly hope so.”

“A doctorate in biology? Didn’t know they had those,” Rose said. 

He sniffed. “Many people don’t, I suppose, it’s not exactly a popular choice, but it was one of my passions.”

“One of them?”

“I’m currently studying for my doctorate in astronomy,” he told her proudly.  “I do love the stars.”

“Do you believe in reading them?”

“I believe you design your own future, Rose Tyler, but there’s nothing wrong with having a guide.” His face lit up.  “You look like someone who likes the stars.”

“I like looking at them,” She said.  “Never thought about anything deeper than that, I guess.”

“Nonsense, you just asked me what I thought about reading them,” he leaned forwards on his elbows, staring at her across the table., “You’re curious, and you like to learn,” He cocked his head to the side, “I haven’t known you but ten minutes, and I can already tell you are going to be a brilliant fit for this school.”

She took another bite of her lunch, trying not to feel intimidated when he was looking so closely at her she thought she might light on fire. “I-um,” She looked down at her food. “I suppose you would think that, and I appreciate it, I really do, but don’t go giving me too much credit before I’ve even proven myself.”

He sat back and pulled a sandwich from his bag.  “Well, Miss Tyler, I think you shall prove yourself soon enough, and you should stop doubting it so much, eh?”

She grinned. “I appreciate it, Doctor Smith, I really do.”

The two of them chatted a bit more, finding out which students they had in common, and if they both liked them or not.  Rose was exceptionally kind, even about the bad students, while it seemed that John had been dealing with them for longer and was altogether sick of their antics.

“I grew up in a house like that,” she said, “Single parent, born on the estate,” She shrugged, “Some of these kids are the same.”

“I wasn’t trying to insinuate-”

“I didn’t think you were,” she reassured him, “I just think it’s important to know where they come from, so we can give them the attention and help that they need.” She lifted a shoulder. “I had teachers like that, who helped me… I think it would be more important to be kind to them than to send them to the principal’s office,  _ out  _ of the learning environment.”

He regarded her with full brown eyes. “Miss Tyler, I do believe you are brilliant.”

When he stood up to leave, Rose felt a little bit abandoned, since they had spoken much and she found that he was a kind soul that had been through much more than he was saying.  He nodded to her as he passed her on his way to her door.

“Stop by my classroom for lunch tomorrow,” he said, “I’d like very much to spend it with you again.”

She nodded and stared after him, finding that it was very difficult to say no to him already. 

********

She went to his room the next day, carrying her bag with her lunch in it, trying to make sure that Sarah Jane didn’t see her.  This wasn’t exactly fraternizing, not really, but it was enough for Rose to wonder if the two of them would get in trouble for this.

“Miss Tyler,” he took his glasses off and regarded her with a carefully professional air, “Come in.”

They met every day at lunch, and when they passed each other in the hallway, he would wink at her and she would blush, which seemed to make him very proud of himself, indeed.

And of course, being children, the children picked up on the changes between their English and Science teachers.

“Are you and Dr. Smith friends?” One little girl piped up when Rose’s back was to the class.

She turned over her shoulder and stared at the girl.  The rest of her class was staring at her expectantly, and she sighed, dropping her hand from the chalkboard.

“When you work in an environment like this,” Rose said carefully, “You have to be friends with everyone you work with, or at least try.”

“But you and Dr. Smith don’t teach the same subject!”

“Ms. Jones teaches math and I’m friends with her,” Rose pointed out.

“That’s different!” A boy in the back row chimed in, his arms crossed over his chest. “Dr. Smith is a boy.”

“And I can’t be friends with boys?” Rose asked. 

“Yeah!” The first girl who spoke turned and scowled. “Miss Tyler can be friends with whoever she wants!”

Rose rubbed her forehead tiredly. “Thank you, Lucy.  Now, if we could get back to the lesson, I really would appreciate it, since that’s what I’m supposed to be talking to you about, yeah?”

****

“The kids are starting to talk about us,” John said one day as they sat across from each other.  
“Mm,” Rose said, looking down into her soup container, “I know.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, I teach some of them, for starters,” Rose said, “And they asked me if we were friends.”

“And are we?”

“Sure we are,” Rose said, wondering why he was bringing this up. She found it a bit odd. “We’ve been eating lunch together for the past three and a half months.  You call me on the weekends, and we go for chips once or twice a week.  That’s certainly things friends would do, don’t you think?”  She didn’t want to admit that it felt like more than friendship, but she did want to test the waters.

He nodded. “I think so.”

She looked at her watch. “I should get going.  I have a preparation period after this, and-”

“So do I. Stay?” He asked, halting her with his words.  
“I have to… Prepare,” she said lamely, looking into his eyes and finding something that she’d never seen there before.

“I’m sure it could wait, if you wanted it to,” he insisted.

She wanted to stay with him, and that was the problem.  She always wanted to stay during her prep period, to stay with him and try to forget that they were even at work. He had that effect on her, to bring her mentally to her knees without even trying. It was really, truly unfair, and he didn’t even know he was doing it.

She got to her feet and saw that his face fell. Leaving her bag on the floor, she came around the side of his desk to where he sat. She leaned back against his desk, peering down at him. “Why do you want me to stay?” She asked him, surprised at how low and purring her voice had become.

“I’d like to spend more time with you,” he rolled his chair closer to her, looking up into her eyes.

“Mm?” She didn’t know what to say, and thought that a sound might be good enough.  

Tentatively, as though afraid she would beat him up and run away if he did it, his hand reached out and touched her thigh, farthest from him, almost but not quite drawing her into a hug.  His fingertips caressed the skin there as he looked up at her.

“You and I have grown very close,” he said.

“We have,” She replied, revelling in his touch on her skin.  It was starting to push up the softness of her loose skirt, trailing farther up towards the crease in her thigh.  “I don’t mind.”

“I hope not,” John replied, “Because I think you should know that I’ve been looking at you in more than a friendly way, a way that teachers shouldn’t look at each other.”

“Why not?”  
“Against policy,” he said, his eyes now trained on where his hand had disappeared up into her skirt.  She wanted him to look at her again, to prove out loud what he was saying in a roundabout way. She reached out and grabbed the back of his head, tugging him back by his hair so he was looking up at her.

“Why don’t you show me?”

He got to his feet, and she was struck by how tall he was.  He kept his hand under her skirt, the second one landing on her waist, tugging her a little closer to him, but keeping her right against the desk. 

Leaning forward, he brushed his nose against hers. “Rose,” he said softly, “I shouldn’t be-”

“I’m asking you to,” She said, keeping her grip on him. “If you don’t want to-”

He seemed to panic at that, and leaned foward to cut her off, kissing her in a way that was much more aggressive than any first kiss that she had ever had.  He was a  _ brilliant  _ kisser, all finesse and hands in all the right places and tongue knowing just when to seek hers out.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him closer, waiting for the moment when she woke up, because surely anything this good was a dream.

He pulled his hand from under her skirt so he could grasp her by the hips, lifting her up onto the desk, crunching some of his papers under her.  He pulled her knees around him, locking her in, before pushing closer to her, making her have to lay back on the desk.  She wrapped her legs around him, not sure where this was going, but too dizzy to think about anything logically. 

His touch was magnetic on her, and she wondered if you could get drunk on something like this. The way he was touching her, she really imagined so.  She made a sound of enjoyment and covered her mouth with her hand, not wanting to make any noise. 

“You are so beautiful,” John said, sounding like he was barely coherent.  “So perfect, you’re brilliant, and you don’t even  _ know,  _ how smart you are, how much you mean-”

The sound of squealing children running back in from lunch made John break back from her and take a step back, leaving her disheveled and dazed on his desk, wishing he’d finished whatever he’d been about to say.  A look at him told her that he was just the same.

“We could close the curtains,” she said, sitting up on his desk, trying to look as put together as possible.   “On your door.”

“No, I-” he looked down, “Would you come to mine, after school?” He walked to her and cupped her cheek in his hand. “I don’t want to be afraid of getting caught.”

She leaned into his touch, wondering why none of this felt too fast.  They’d only known each other a few short months, but it just felt like so much longer. She nodded, looking up into his eyes.

“No, come over to mine,” she said, wanting him there, among her things, in her home. 

She couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day, though she managed to put her physical appearance back together, her mind was scattered and she seemed to drop her chalk and and make mistakes more.

John was much the same, as the words on his pages just seemed to morph into Rose, into those shining brown eyes staring back at him, her body, how it had felt under his.  He’d cleared his throat approximately fifty eight times during class just to get himself back under control, but made a point of controlling that little tic when a very worried looking young girl offered him her cough drops, saying her dad had a cold like his.

************

She’d practically thrown herself into her car after school, barely bothering to collect all her things.  She drove home as fast as she could without getting into any trouble. When she got there, John’s car was already parked out front, making her wonder how fast he’d driven to get there.  He must still be in his car, so she ran up to let herself in, hoping he would be right behind.

She’d barely shut the door behind herself when there was a knock at the door, and she whipped around to let him in.

She opened the door quickly, sending a rush of wind onto him, making him blink against the force of it.

“Hello,” he said.  “I should start this off by saying I don’t want this to be a one-off. I want to be with you. Is that alright?”

She couldn’t think of anything she had agreed with more. Ever.  She nodded, already breathless, and threw herself into his arms.  He caught her about the waist, kicking the door shut behind them as he walked inside.

“Welcome to my home,” she said against his mouth.

“It’s lovely,” he said, kissing his way along her jaw. “You made it out of the estate.”

“You’re not even looking,” she chastised him, even as she was pushing his coat off of his shoulders.  

He attacked the buttons on her blouse, staring down into her eyes as he did so. “I’m not interested in looking at your house, Rose, and as lovely as it is, I only want to look at you.”

The words lit a fire in her and she tore his tie from his neck, the sound of silk on cotton absolutely delicious. She tipped her chin up for a kiss that he greedily took, leaning down and kissing her deeply, over and over until she felt as though she might explode from it.  He made a sound against her that she could tell he was trying to repress, so she ran her hands through his hair and  _ pulled,  _ determined to make him make sounds, which he gladly did.

She pulled away and took him by the hand, leading him up the stairs. “There’s only one room you really need a tour of right now,” She said simply, and his eyes were blown wide as he mounted the stairs two at a time to follow her.  

The second he discovered which bedroom was hers, he lifted her up and threw her back on her own bed, toeing off his trainers and crawling up over her, kissing her deeply as he did so. She let him play this as he liked, which was apparently him over her and never removing his lips from any part of her body. This was being worshipped, and she knew immediately that she was spoiled for any other relationship now.  He kissed her harder, pulling her knees around his hips again, like he had in his room, which only made her all the more excited about it.  She wrapped her arms and legs around him, drawing him down.

“I’m so glad I met you,” he said in a growl against her neck, biting down on her collarbone after speaking. 

She let out a breathy “Me too,” as agreement, and that was all he needed to hear, and all either of them said before the rest of their clothes were shed.

**********

He trailed his hand over her skin even afterwards, as though he couldn’t believe that he was allowed to touch her. “So am I your boyfriend now?”  
“If you want to be,” She said, feeling delightfully drowsy, the light spilling in from her window making it difficult to fall asleep.

He leaned over and kissed the love marks he’d left on her. “I want to be.”

She looked at him, at the love bites she’d left on his neck and chest, and reached out and traced one.  “I’m  _ very  _ glad I started working at that school,” She said softly.

He beamed at her. “Oh, me too!” before descending on her once again.

Sarah Jane noticed that both of their classrooms had been left in disarray at the end of the school day and smiled, shaking her head.  She’d known all along something was going to happen between them.

And  _ something  _ happened a lot of times from then on out.

**Author's Note:**

> Please review?


End file.
